EU promises 160,000 new homes if UK votes to remain

Labour has set out plans to use the EU to double the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) commitment to funding social housing provision (currently 20,000 homes) in order to bring the UK’s per capita share of funding in line with the EU average.

If the UK moved to the EU average of per capita EIB investment then it would increase funding from £5.6 billion last year to £8 billion. This could mean a possible annual £2.4 billion increase in funding (almost £10 billion by 2020) available for UK businesses, which could then be used to help tackle issues like the UK’s housing crisis.

For example, if applied next year it could fund 40,000 homes a year, which over the next four years to 2020 could mean 160,000 new affordable homes. And a potential of an additional 65,000 jobs each year.

John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said, “Labour wants to build a better Europe and that can start by using the EU to increase investment that could be used to build more homes here, and help tackle the Tory housing crisis.

“The Tories are failing to take the opportunities that the European Investment Bank provides, leaving Britain with a lower than average investment from this shared institution. With the EU now committed to expanding investment across Europe through the £250 billion Juncker Plan, we need a government that will step up to the mark and deliver for working people here. The money’s there but the Tories aren’t making the most of it.

“Increasing EIB investment in the UK to the EU average would mean an extra £2.4 billion a year, which could help build 160,000 new homes to address the housing crisis and creating a potential 65,000 jobs every year.”

Professor Mariana Mazzucato said, “During a time in which investment remains low across Europe, the European Investment Bank will play a key role in changing this trend. Central to Juncker’s investment and innovation plan, it is searching for viable projects to co-invest in, with the objective to increase productivity and innovation across Europe. British companies will be better off if they can be part of this co-investment process and the British economy will be better off if it can take a stake in that shared prosperity. With productivity and innovation lagging in the UK, going it alone is not the way forwards.”